This article was published in the daily newspaper The Champaign Daily Gazette, Champaign, Illinois, Thursday, May 4, 1897.
Warning: the airship stories must not be taken at face value as "UFO sightings." Evaluation of such stories is under way here.
Champaign People Have Passed The Point of Interest in It
Several persons attempted last night to start the report that they had seen the airship. They said it appeared in the southwest, working its way to the northeast, and that it carried red, blue and green lights. However, it should be understood now, as well as later, that the airship has seen its best days in Champaign, and that people are now thinking of buying new tires for their last year's bicycles. Airships are all right in their place, but like most other good things, they become plain and commonplace with age.
